Recyclable cameras, such as the so-called "single use" or "one-time use" type cameras are becoming increasingly popular in the field of photography. In such cameras, a wound roll of an unexposed photographic filmstrip is contained in a chamber of a lighttight camera body and is sequentially advanced in a frame by frame manner across an exposure chamber into a film cartridge, which is separately contained in another chamber of the camera body. After all of the exposures have been taken by the camera user, the film cartridge is removed from the film cartridge chamber of the camera body by a photofinisher for processing.
The camera body includes a frame which is sandwiched between a front cover portion and a rear cover portion. A majority of the photographic components are attached to the exterior of the frame which also includes molded-in features for defining the exposure chamber as well as the film cartridge and film roll chambers, respectively. Inherently, however, impact damage is often caused when the lighttight camera body is opened by a photofinisher in retrieving the film cartridge which often destroys the film cartridge chamber, thereby destroying the lighttight integrity of the camera and causing the entire replacement of the camera frame. Particularly for recyclable cameras, the replacement of the camera frame is not at all desirable due to the increase in the costs associated, mainly because the majority of the camera's photographic components, such as the viewfinder and the film advance mechanism, can be reused a number of camera lifetimes. Therefore, a need exists to provide a camera which can be more efficiently recycled to provide optimum reuse of components.